The low-speed advance of a high-speed East Coast train

ScottCalvert

Courtesy Northeast Maglev

A rendering of the Northeast Maglev train.

BALTIMORE—Six years ago, Melissa Malcolm gave up on the commuter train to Washington, D.C. after breakdowns twice left her stranded in hot railcars. Now, on a good day, she makes the 40-mile drive in about an hour and a half.

“It’s horrific,” said the 35-year-old, who directs national sales and field marketing at the Milk Processor Education Program.

So Malcolm is rooting for an ambitious bid to build a high-speed train line that would zip riders between Baltimore and Washington in about 15 minutes and more closely bind these historically different cities.

The still-distant dream of maglev—short for magnetic levitation—is inching ahead. On Wednesday, Maryland officials announced a $2 million pledge from the government of Japan, where the technology was developed, for a feasibility study. Last fall, the U.S. Transportation Department awarded a $28 million grant for environmental and engineering studies.

Northeast Maglev, the company promoting the effort, says the roughly 40-mile line could open in about a decade at a cost “somewhat north” of $10 billion, with the Japanese government covering a major portion. The technology uses magnetic forces to accelerate trains to speeds of more than 300 miles an hour as they hover inches off the ground. There is one 28-mile stretch of maglev track in Japan using this technology, but it isn’t yet open for commercial service.

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